5 Stocks Ready to Break Out

These stocks look poised to break out and trade higher from current levels

Another stock that's trending very close to triggering a major breakout trade is Geron ( GERN), a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class therapies for cancer. This stock has been in play with the bulls for the last three months, with shares up 13%.

If you look at the chart for Geron, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending strongly for the last two months, with shares soaring from its low of 91 cents per share to its recent high of $1.78 a share. During that move, shares of GERN have been mostly making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed GERN within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in GERN if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $1.73 to $1.83 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.2 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then GERN will set up to re-fill some of its massive gap down zone from last September that started at $2.99 a share.

Traders can look to buy GERN off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and then simply use a stop that sits right around its 50-day moving average of $1.44 a share. One can also buy GERN off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits just below its 200-day moving average of $1.58 a share.